Vendor Reviews

Location: Oviatt Penthouse, Downtown Los Angeles – A-
I’m really happy with the Oviatt. It was beautiful, just what I wanted, historical/urban. There were hitches throughout the day, but I am happy overall.

Photographer: Marlin Munoz - A+
I love him! Our e-pics turned out great. He and his wife were very easy to work with on the day of. I love my wedding pics. He got so many really beautiful photos. $1150 for 9 hours with 2 photographer is a great price in LA. We also ran out of time, my fault, and weren't able to get shots on the subway like I had wanted to, so Marlin offered to take more pictures later. So 2 months later we got dressed up again and took more shots. I'll post them when I get them back.

Caterer: Vinaigrettes - A
Some of you may recall that my original caterer cancelled 3 weeks before for reason of a death in the company. Vinaigrettes stepped in and handled everything rather well. They costed more, but did a great job. I couldn’t afford everything that the original caterer would have provided, but everything was great. The great Cheese Tortellini Alfredo was the talk of the next day. Don Weiss made sure to make the ordeal easy on me. Wes was the bartender they provided and he did an awesome job. Request him!

While we are on the topic of vendor cancellations:
Hair and Make-up: Marilyn Ghigliotti stepped in for Tess - A
After hearing about the whole ordeal, I feel lucky to even have someone show up. Marilyn did a great job. My hair looked great. I felt like a million bucks.

Cake: Pasteleria 3 Leches - A+
I loved our cake! Thank you JuneMango for recommending them. We got a white (kinda Yellow) cake with real strawberry filling and white whipped cream frosting for 75 people for only $150 delivery included. We only asked for a cake to feed 75 people, but in order to make the tiers the sizes they needed to be they made it for 85 people. It tasted just like strawberry shortcake. The catering servers were salivating. It is definitely not a fancy bakery, but Aldo is SO nice.

Videography: Brandon Kaplan - A
I found him on Craigslist and liked his low price. His price has increased since I booked him. His package of 6 hours edited is now $600. Videography was low on my list of priorities. I wanted the ceremony, first dance, and toasts covered. Everything else was just gravy. He showed up on time and did a professional job. The final DVD is great. He did a really good job editing everything. There were some sound glitches, but nothing major. My DH says he never once noticed him that evening, but he got all the shots. For my price, I got WAY more than I expected.

Ceremony Dress: FIDM Scholarship store - A
I found the Maggie Soterro sample for sale there for $25 (twenty-five). I did however redo the bodice entirely, but I couldn’t have bought fabric for $25. I highly recommend this place for a budget bride who is flexible about the dress. You never know what they will have, but that is part of the adventure.

Reception Dress: Myself – A
I made the reception dress myself. I copied the dress off of an Elie Saab Dress that Selma Hayek wore. I’m happy with how it turned out. Fabric cost around $40.

Cocktail Hour Dress: MaxAndCleo at Macy’s
I found this silk teal dress for only $35. I love it and can really wear it again.

Flowers: DIY- A
I bought the flowers at the LA Flower Mart. 375 lovely roses. $14 for a bunch of 25 roses at Jesus Barajas. We also bought lots of other flowers. Total for flowers was under $300. It was a lot of work and a big mess, but they turned out great. My MIL and aunt-in-law helped. We made 9 centerpieces, 6 large arrangements, 2 bouquets, 3 boutonnières, and had lots left over so we stuck roses in whatever we could find.

Invitations: www.cardsandpockets.com A
I was very happy with the quality. I haven't seen other pocketfolds, so I have nothing to compare them to. We used photo quality paper for the invite and inserts. We also used a couple of ink cartariges while printing. These both and to the cost. The pocketfold was $1 and envelope was $.15. So worth it to not have to make them from scratch. The printing and assembly was time consuming enough as it was. In the end, our invites turned out great and we got lots of compliments.

MOH dress: A
She made it herself out of silk she bought downtown. She looked great!

Wedding bands: Mine - B, His - A
Mine came from Youngbosa, Inc in the jewelery mart. $600 for a custom band with 8 saphires. It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted. I should have insisted on a wax mold proof. Still nice, great price, the white gold hasn't turned yellow at all yet.
His came from Icing on the Ring. Tungsten and he loves it. No scratches at all. I think he could have gotten a better price online, but he doesn't shop like I do.

Coordinator: The Lovely Ms. Courtney – A++
She is a friend who has lots of wedding catering experience. She was a miracle. She kept us on time all night. I only had to mention something and she was on top of it. I never thought I would need the kind of help she provided. Hire a day-of, they are worth it.

Officiant: The Handsome Mr. Michael – A++
Our friend was ordained online at www.ulc.org and married us. We gave him what we wanted for our vows and he wrote an awesome speech for us. I couldn’t imagine getting married by anyone else. ULC is free and legal in CA. On the marriage certificate he needs to put down Universal Life Church under Religious Denomination and Minister under Official Title. Easy as Pie!

These are some of the Pro Pics from Marlin Munoz. I haven't posted my getting ready shots yet. More to come. Seeing each other for the first time! Our club room at the Biltmore I love this shot. DH is putting on his shoes in the background. We got dressed at the Oviatt, but he left his shoes at our hotel a block away. You can see he is wearing flip flops in some shots. The hallway we put our e-pics in. I love this one, too. Saw the tie and had to grab it. My DIY bouquet. Extra centerpiece. DH gave Hugo Boss cufflinks to the guys. Reheasal on the day of Good shot of the back of my hair. My parents. My family. His family. I love this shot. My MOH was 5 months preg with twins. She is such a trooper. I love her! Polaroid Guest Book. Cocktail Hour. I love the group shots! I didn't want to do a garter toss, but my mom bought me one and gave it to me at the last min. I didn't want it on my leg, so I pinned it to my crinoline. I later gave it to my friend who SO wanted to catch the garter. No garter toss, mom happy that I used her garter, friend happy that he got the garter, and I got a good shot out of it. Yeah. As soon as we were announced husband and wife, I threw my arms up in excitement. That made his mom happy that I was SO excited to marry her wonderful son. The kiss! Making it legal. Dotting all the i's. Looking at the polariod photo guestbook. First dance. You can see the tables glowing in the backgroud. I simply wrapped the bases of the tables with white x-mas lights. My friends setting this up for me thought I was crazy and that it wouldn't work. One by one they came up to me that night and told me I was right and how great it looked. Dancing with my crazy FIL. June Lockhart crashed my wedding. She was on Lassie and Lost in Space. It made my parents happy that a star, albeit one from a different generation, was there. She was eating at Cicada downstairs and was invited up by my caterer with my permission. She just wanted to check out the penthouse. She and her family were very nice. Playing with my FIL. Jazz hands! 3 hams. E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com> E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com E-pics by Marlin Munoz www.marlinmunoz.com Hurricane centerpiece bought at Ross 2 for $15, base for $2.50 DIY centerpiece trial DIY bouquet trial. It was easy to do. For the real one I shortened the "handle". I think I used around 20 roses. Hair and makeup inspiration Smiling bride on the big day! Flower arrangements done by my fantastic aunt in law. Vases purchased at Ross for $7. Our e-pic gallery. The Oviatt has a long hall with old pics on the wall. We slipped our e-pics over them. It was a huge hit! We displayed 24 photos in all. Our fantastic cake. Whipped frosting with real strawberry filling. My $25 Maggie Sottero dress before I washed and altered it. I dropped the waist, altered the neckline, hemmed it, added the petticoat, and made a choker out of the collar. It was a lot of work. Processional: Joga by Bjork Recessional: Amazed by Poe Wedding Dance list: Somebody- Depeche Mode 1st dance Into the Groove- Madonna Rock the Casbah- The Clash Let’s Dance David Bowie Precious- Depeche Mode Rock This Town- Stray Cats I Got You (I Feel Good)- James Brown Take On Me- a-ha Let’s Get It On- Marvin Gaye Thank You- Dido Get the Party Started- Pink True Faith (’94)- New Order Lips Like Sugar- Echo and the Bunnymen Hungary Like the Wolf- Duran Duran Hey Ya!- Outkast Holiday- Madonna Hella Good- No Doubt I Melt with You- Modern English Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)- Flock of Seagulls Just Can’t get Enough_ Depeche Mode Euphoria (Firefly)- Delerium Love Will Tear Us Apart- Joy Division How soon Is Now- The Smiths Stand By Me- Otis Redding My Guy- Mary Wells True- Spandeau Ballet Lucky Star- Madonna Safety Dance- Men Without Hats Send Me an Angel- Real Life Bizarre Love Triangle- New Order Lust for Life- Iggy Pop Under Pressure- Queen Da Ya Think I’m Sexy- Rod Stewart More than This- Roxy Music Dancing with Myself- Billy Idol Love Shack- B-52s Jump, Jive an’ Wail- Brian Setzer One way or Another- Blondie Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper Are You Gonna Be My Girl- Jet So Alive- Love and Rockets Can’t Help Falling in Love with You- Elvis In the Mood- Glenn Miller Oh, Pretty Woman- Roy Orbison Friday I’m in Love- The Cure Good Riddance ( Time of Your Life)- Green Day I loved dancing to this playlist, but it needed more slow songs. Sugesstions for the big day. I wish I would have invited more new friends. We weren't that close when the invites went out, but we are close now 2 months after, and it feels weird that they weren't there. I wish I held my bouquet lower. I thought I was, but it wasn't quite low enough. Practice this! I wish I would have told guests NOT to take pictures during the ceremony. I'm looking at our picture and I am not seeing Aunt Judy, I'm seeing a camera infront of Aunt Judy. Also, One guest thought it was OK to stand next to the BP to get better shots, then he went around to the other side of the ceremony to get a different angle. I really wished he had just payed attention to the ceremony. We had 2 pro photographers there. It annoyed me. I wish we had our officiant tell us to take a moment to look around at all the guests during the ceremony. In the video, I'm looking around at everyone, and it looks like I'm not paying attention. I wish I had spent more time with my new husband that night. After dinner we lost track of each other. I wish I had told people all of my plans for the evening. I forgot at the last min details that I wanted. Ex: I didn't want guest to stand when I entered. But as I was walking down the aisle, I saw my awesome FMIL telling everyone to stand. To further complicate things, it wasn't in the script to tell them to be seated. I whispered to the officiant to tell them to sit down, but he was too in the moment to hear me. So they stood the whole ceremony. Luckily it was only 15 min long. There will be things that don't go as planned. Just remember that it's a happy day and be happy. You don't want to think back and remember that you were crying about the centerpeices that didn't turn out. On the day of, you have to let go and have a great day.